MORT GARSON +PAUL FREES Edgar Allen Poe Tell-Tale Heart LP Custom Fidelity RARE

$

250

 •Artist: Mort Garson & Paul Frees
 •Album Title: Edgar Allen Poe’s Tell-Tale Heart
 •Format: LP
 •Label: Custom Fidelity
 •Country and Year of Release: USA, 1972?
 •Cover/Record Grade: F/Ex++
 •Other Info: This one-sided record is extremely rare—I’ve never seen it mentioned by anyone else and of course never seen it offered for sale.  The story of the Tell Tale Heart is told, narrated by the great Paul Frees (“the man of a thousand voices”), with electronic music and sound effects provided by Mort Garson.  This didn’t come in a regular printed cover (I imagine that only a few copies of this album were pressed, probably as a demo, so they didn’t bother to have a proper cover made); it is housed in a plain white cover with a sticker on it that provides the basic information.  I am including a new white jacket for the lucky winner of this item—and I do mean lucky: this is so unknown and rare that I think it would be the crown jewel of any Mort Garson (or Paul Frees) record collection.  For many other Mort Garson LPs (and other Electronic and Moog style records), see my other listings.

Payment and Shipping Information

In the U.S., shipping/handling is $4.98 for one LP sent by Media Mail (but if this listing is for more than one LP, click on the Shipping and Payments tab above for the correct price).  Package insured upon request.  Yes, I do combine shipping so if you purchase more than one item, you WILL save on postage!  I do not gouge on postage and packaging costs.  I send your records to you carefully packaged in a strong, OVERSIZED LP mailer (to avoid damage to the LP cover) with sturdy cardboard squares (to protect the record and the cover), but I make sure to only charge the amount needed to cover my actual costs.  If you have any questions about this item, feel free to contact me. 

International Customers: Please do not use the Checkout (Pay Now) option if you are paying for more than one item, or you may end up paying more for postage than is necessary, as eBay tends to calculate shipping and handling on the high side. Instead, wait for me to send you an invoice with the correct total amount due. I will do my best to contact you within one day of the auction’s end.  An approximate cost for one LP to many countries is $21.85 by First Class Package International Mail (but Canada and Mexico will be less than this).  To find a more accurate quote for shipping/handling to your country (or if this listing is for more than one LP), go to the Shipping and Payments tab above and select your country from the list.  Yes, I do combine shipping so if you purchase more than one item, you WILL save on postage!  I do not gouge on postage and packaging costs.  I send your records to you carefully packaged in a strong, OVERSIZED LP mailer (to avoid damage to the LP cover) with sturdy cardboard squares (to protect the record and the cover), but I make sure to only charge the amount needed to cover my actual costs.  If you have any questions about this item, feel free to contact me.

Grading Information

With very few exceptions, I play grade the records that I list.  (This means that I don't go by the way a record looks, only by how it plays.)  Sometimes when I have a group (or a “lot”) of LPs within a single listing, I will not play all the records, but this is fairly rare.

I use Mint (M), Excellent (Ex), Very Good (VG), Good (G), Fair (F), and (heaven help us) Poor (P), and I take each of these words at their literal meaning.  In other words, if I assign an LP a grade of “G,” that means to me that it really is in good playing condition, not fair or worse—for many dealers, a G (or even VG) grade is often really nothing more than a euphemism for a record that is in fair or poor condition.

I also use up to three plus signs (+) and up to three minus signs (-) to indicate varying degrees within a specific grade.  So, a grade letter followed by a “+” means the condition is slightly better than the grade letter by itself, and a grade letter followed by “++” indicates that the condition is yet another small step higher.  For example, a grade of Ex+++ means that the record is very close to being in the Mint range, but still just shy of it.

This may seem like a strange system at first glance but I use it because I feel that the standard grading systems are inadequate, as they simply don't allow for enough grades or degrees within those grades.  Many don't use Excellent, for example, which means that there is a jump from Mint down to Very Good—and there are a whole lot of grading possibilities in between those two, the way I see it.